Audio/Video Recording and Communication Devices with Multiple Cameras for Superimposing Image Data

ABSTRACT

Audio/video (A/V) recording and communication devices with multiple cameras for superimposing image data in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure are provided. In one embodiment, an audio/video (A/V) recording and communication device comprising: a first camera configured to capture image data at a first resolution; a second camera configured to capture image data at a second resolution that is higher than the first resolution; a memory including a rolling buffer; a communication module; and a processing module comprising: a processor; and a camera application that configures the processor to: capture first image data using the first camera; store the first image data in the rolling buffer of the memory; maintain the second camera in a low-power state; power up the second camera in response to motion detection; capture second image data using the second camera; and superimpose the first image data onto the second image data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to provisional application Ser. No.62/454,220, filed on Feb. 3, 2017, the entire contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present embodiments relate to audio/video (AN) recording andcommunication devices, including A/V recording and communicationdoorbell systems. In particular, the present embodiments relate toimprovements in the functionality of A/V recording and communicationdevices that strengthen the ability of such devices to reduce crime andenhance public safety.

BACKGROUND

Home security is a concern for many homeowners and renters. Thoseseeking to protect or monitor their homes often wish to have video andaudio communications with visitors, for example, those visiting anexternal door or entryway. AudioNideo (A/V) recording and communicationdevices, such as doorbells, provide this functionality, and can also aidin crime detection and prevention. For example, audio and/or videocaptured by an A/V recording and communication device can be uploaded tothe cloud and recorded on a remote server. Subsequent review of the A/Vfootage can aid law enforcement in capturing perpetrators of homeburglaries and other crimes. Further, the presence of one or more A/Vrecording and communication devices on the exterior of a home, such as adoorbell unit at the entrance to the home, acts as a powerful deterrentagainst would-be burglars.

SUMMARY

The various embodiments of the present audio/video (A/V) recording andcommunication devices with multiple cameras have several features, nosingle one of which is solely responsible for their desirableattributes. Without limiting the scope of the present embodiments asexpressed by the claims that follow, their more prominent features nowwill be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, andparticularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description,”one will understand how the features of the present embodiments providethe advantages described herein.

One aspect of the present embodiments includes the realization that A/Vrecording and communication devices could be enhanced by adding at leasta second camera. For example, two cameras working in tandem could enablefunctionality that might not be possible with only one camera. Forexample, in some embodiments the second camera could have differentperformance characteristics from the first camera, such as differentresolution and/or different power consumption. The low-power, low-rescamera may be powered on at all times, while the high-power, high-rescamera is typically powered off. The low-power, low-res camera can thenbe used in a process for determining when to power on the high-power,high-res camera. This arrangement can have particular benefit in abattery-powered A/V recording and communication device, where conservingbattery power is desirable to prolong the usable life of the devicebetween battery recharges. In some embodiments, video footage recordedby the low-power, low-res camera can be added to the stream from thehigh-power, high-res camera to create a pre-roll. Also in someembodiments, the two cameras may be arranged so that their fields ofview are coincident (or at least overlapping). The low-power, low-rescamera may record video footage before the high-power, high-res camerais powered up, and after the high-power, high-res camera powers up thevideo footage recorded by the high-power, high-res camera can be usedinstead of the video footage recorded by the low-power, low-res camera(e.g., the high-power, high-res camera, upon power up, takes over forthe low-power, low-res camera).

Another aspect of the present embodiments includes the realization thatin current A/V recording and communication devices other than thepresent embodiments, streaming video that is sent from the A/V recordingand communication device to the user's client device does not includeany images of events that took place prior to the event that triggeredthe sending of the streaming video. For example, when the A/V recordingand communication device detects an event, such as motion in the areaabout the A/V recording and communication device or a visitor pressingthe front button of the AN recording and communication device (when theAN recording and communication device is a doorbell), the streamingvideo that is sent from the AN recording and communication device to theuser's client device begins at (or just after) the moment that themotion was detected or the front, button was pressed. Often, however,the events that occurred just prior to the event detection are ofinterest to the user. The present embodiments solve this problem bycontinuously recording, with the camera of the A/V recording andcommunication device, the area within the field of view of the camera,and then, when an event is detected, beginning the streaming video at atime that is prior to the event detection. The continuously recordedvideo images are stored in a rolling buffer, and the streaming videoincludes images stored in the rolling buffer. The present embodimentsthus advantageously enable the user to view video images of events thathappened just prior to the detected event, thereby delivering moreinformation to the user to help the user better understand what istaking place in the streaming video.

A further aspect of the present embodiments includes the realizationthat A/V recording and communication devices, and the user experienceassociated with using such devices, could be enhanced by providinghigher quality video footage (“video footage” may also be referred to as“image data”). For example, low-resolution video footage may make itharder to correctly identify a person and/or to determine what actionsare taking place in the video footage. Further, low-resolution videofootage may make it harder for a user to determine the location that theuser is actually viewing. For example, in some embodiments, A/Vrecording and communication devices may have multiple cameras withoverlapping (or substantially coincident) fields of view, where onecamera is always on and continuously capturing low-resolution footageand another camera is selectively powered up and captureshigh-resolution footage. In such embodiments, the A/V recording andcommunication devices may have both low-resolution and high-resolutionfootage of the same scene, but only low-resolution footage and nothigh-resolution footage of a particular time sequence. Thus, it would beadvantageous, therefore, to superimpose portions of the low-resolutionfootage onto portions of the high-resolution footage, and/or vice versa,to generate footage of a specific time sequence appearing of higherquality to the user. These and other aspects and advantages of thepresent embodiments are described in further detail below.

In a first aspect, an audio/video (A/V) recording and communicationdevice is provided, the device comprising: a first camera configured tocapture image data at a first resolution; a second camera configured tocapture image data at a second resolution, wherein the second resolutionis higher than the first resolution; a memory including a rollingbuffer; a communication module; and a processing module operativelyconnected to the first camera, the memory, and the communication module,the processing module comprising: a processor; and a camera application,wherein the camera application configures the processor to: capturefirst image data using the first camera; store the first image datacaptured using the first camera in the rolling buffer of the memory;maintain the second camera in a low-power state; power up the secondcamera in response to motion detection; capture second image data usingthe second camera; and superimpose the first image data captured usingthe first camera onto the second image data captured using the secondcamera.

In an embodiment of the first aspect, the camera application furtherconfigures the processor to maintain the first camera in a powered-onstate and continuously capture the first image data using the firstcamera.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to place the first camera into alow-power state when the second camera is powered up.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to revert the second camera to thelow-power state when the detected motion is no longer present.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to power up the first camera when thesecond camera is reverted to the low-power state.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to power up the second camera inresponse to motion in a field of view of the first camera.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to power up the second camera inresponse to motion detection in a motion zone.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the A/V recording andcommunication device further comprises a passive infrared (PIR) sensorand wherein the camera application further configures the processor todetect motion using the PIR sensor.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to detect motion using the first imagedata captured using the first camera.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the rolling buffer isconfigured to store 10-15 seconds of the first image data.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to select a single high-resolutionframe from the second image data captured using the second camera.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to generate background video footage byrepeating the single high-resolution frame.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the first image data storedin the rolling buffer comprises a plurality of low-resolution frames.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to determine at least one active motionblock within the plurality of low-resolution frames.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to determine the at least one activemotion block by comparing pixel values of a first one of thelow-resolution frames with corresponding pixel values of a second one ofthe low-resolution frames.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to superimpose the first image datacaptured using the first camera onto the second image data capturedusing the second camera by superimposing the at least one action motionblock onto at least one of the single high-resolution frames of thebackground video footage.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to stream the second image datacaptured using the second camera to a client device using thecommunication module.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to stream the first image datasuperimposed onto the second image data to the client device using thecommunication module.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to stream the first image datasuperimposed onto the second image data to the client device at a firststream rate and stream the second image data captured using the secondcamera to the client device at a second stream rate, wherein the secondstream rate is less than the first stream rate.

In another embodiment of the first aspect, the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to transmit the first image data storedin the rolling buffer and the second image data captured using thesecond camera to a server using the communication module.

In a second aspect, a method for an audio/video (A/V) recording andcommunication device is provided, the device comprising a first cameraconfigured to capture image data at a first resolution, a second cameraconfigured to capture image data at a second resolution, wherein thesecond resolution is higher than the first resolution, and a memoryincluding a rolling buffer, the method comprising: capturing first imagedata using the first camera having a first field of view; storing thefirst image data captured using the first camera in the rolling bufferof the memory; maintaining the second camera in a low-power state;powering up the second camera in response to motion detection; capturingsecond image data using the second camera having a second field of view,wherein the first and second fields of views substantially overlap; andsuperimposing the first image data captured using the first camera ontothe second image data captured using the second camera.

An embodiment of the second aspect further comprises maintaining thefirst camera in a powered-on state and continuously capturing the firstimage data using the first camera.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises placing thefirst camera into a low-power state when the second camera is poweredup.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises reverting thesecond camera to the low-power state when the detected motion is nolonger present.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises powering upthe first camera when the second camera is reverted to the low-powerstate.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises powering upthe second camera in response to motion in a field of view of the firstcamera.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises powering upthe second camera in response to motion detection in a motion zone.

In another embodiment of the second aspect, the AN recording andcommunication device further comprises a passive infrared (PIR) sensorand the method further comprises detecting motion using the PIR sensor.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises detectingmotion using the first image data captured using the first camera.

In another embodiment of the second aspect, the rolling buffer isconfigured to store 10-15 seconds of the first image data.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises selecting asingle high-resolution frame from the second image data captured usingthe second camera.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises generatingbackground video footage by repeating the single high-resolution frame.

In another embodiment of the second aspect, the first image data storedin the rolling buffer comprises a plurality of low-resolution frames.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises determining atleast one active motion block within the plurality of low-resolutionframes.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises determiningthe at least one active motion block by comparing pixel values of afirst one of the low-resolution frames with corresponding pixel valuesof a second one of the low-resolution frames.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises superimposingthe first image data captured using the first camera onto the secondimage data captured using the second camera by superimposing the atleast one action motion block onto at least one of the singlehigh-resolution frames of the background video footage.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises streaming thesecond image data captured using the second camera to a client deviceusing the communication module.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises streaming thefirst image data superimposed onto the second image data to the clientdevice using the communication module.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises streaming thefirst image data superimposed onto the second image data to the clientdevice at a first stream rate and streaming the second image datacaptured using the second camera to the client device at a second streamrate, wherein the second stream rate is less than the first stream rate.

Another embodiment of the second aspect further comprises transmittingthe first image data stored in the rolling buffer and the second imagedata captured using the second camera to a server using thecommunication module.

In a third aspect, a server for audio/video (A/V) recording andcommunication devices is provided, the server comprising: acommunication module; and a processing module operatively connected tothe communication module, the processing module comprising: a processor;and a server application, wherein the server application configures theprocessor to: receive first image data captured at a first resolutionusing a first camera of the A/V recording and communication device;receive second image data captured at a second resolution using a secondcamera of the A/V recording and communication device, wherein the secondresolution is higher than the first resolution; and superimpose thefirst image data captured using the first camera onto the second imagedata captured using the second camera.

In an embodiment of the third aspect, the first image data capturedusing the first camera is stored in a rolling buffer of a memory in theAN recording and communication device.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the rolling buffer isconfigured to store 10-15 seconds of the first image data.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to select a single high-resolutionframe from the second image data captured using the second camera.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to generate background video footage byrepeating the single high-resolution frame.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the first image data capturedusing the first camera comprises a plurality of low-resolution frames.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to determine at least one active motionblock within the plurality of low-resolution frames.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationconfigures the processor to determine the at least one active motionblock by comparing pixel values of a first one of the low-resolutionframes with corresponding pixel values of a second one of thelow-resolution frames.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to superimpose the first image datacaptured using the first camera onto the second image data capturedusing the second camera by superimposing the at least one action motionblock onto at least one of the single high-resolution frames of thebackground video footage.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to stream the second image datacaptured using the second camera to a client device using thecommunication module.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to stream the first image datasuperimposed onto the second image data to the client device using thecommunication module.

In another embodiment of the third aspect, the server applicationfurther configures the processor to stream the first image datasuperimposed onto the second image data to the client device at a firststream rate and stream the image data captured using the second camerato the client device at a second stream rate, wherein the second streamrate is less than the first stream rate.

In a fourth aspect, a method for a server comprising a communicationmodule and a processing module operatively connected to thecommunication module is provided, the method comprising: receiving firstimage data captured at a first resolution using a first camera, having afirst field of view, of an audio/video (A/V) recording and communicationdevice; receiving second image data captured at a second resolutionusing a second camera, having a second field of view, of the A/Vrecording and communication device, wherein the second resolution ishigher than the first resolution and the first and second fields of viewsubstantially overlap; and superimposing the first image data capturedusing the first camera onto the second image data captured using thesecond camera.

In an embodiment of the fourth aspect, the first image data capturedusing the first camera is stored in a rolling buffer of a memory in theA/V recording and communication device.

In another embodiment of the fourth aspect, the rolling buffer isconfigured to store 10-15 seconds of the first image data.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises selecting asingle high-resolution frame from the second image data captured usingthe second camera.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises generatingbackground video footage by repeating the single high-resolution frame.

In another embodiment of the fourth aspect, the first image datacaptured using the first camera comprises a plurality of low-resolutionframes.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises determining atleast one active motion block within the plurality of low-resolutionframes.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises determiningthe at least one active motion block by comparing pixel values of afirst one of the low-resolution frames with corresponding pixel valuesof a second one of the low-resolution frames.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises superimposingthe first image data captured using the first camera onto the secondimage data captured using the second camera by superimposing the atleast one action motion block onto at least one of the singlehigh-resolution frames of the background video footage.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises streaming thesecond image data captured using the second camera to a client deviceusing the communication module.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises streaming thefirst image data superimposed onto the second image data to the clientdevice using the communication module.

Another embodiment of the fourth aspect further comprises streaming thefirst image data superimposed onto the second image data to the clientdevice at a first stream rate and streaming the image data capturedusing the second camera to the client device at a second stream rate,wherein the second stream rate is less than the first stream rate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various embodiments of the present audio/video (A/V) recording andcommunication devices with multiple cameras now will be discussed indetail with an emphasis on highlighting the advantageous features. Theseembodiments depict the novel and non-obvious A/V recording andcommunication devices with multiple cameras shown in the accompanyingdrawings, which are for illustrative purposes only. These drawingsinclude the following figures, in which like numerals indicate likeparts:

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a system for streamingand storing A/V content captured by an audio/video (A/V) recording andcommunication device according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process for streaming and storingA/V content from an A/V recording and communication device according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a front view of an A/V recording and communication deviceaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the A/V recording and communication device ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a left side view of the A/V recording and communication deviceof FIG. 3 attached to a mounting bracket according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is cross-sectional right side view of the A/V recording andcommunication device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the A/V recording and communication deviceand the mounting bracket of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the mounting bracket of FIG. 5;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are top and bottom views, respectively, of the A/Vrecording and communication device and the mounting bracket of FIG. 5;

FIG. 11 is a top view of a passive infrared sensor assembly according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a front view of the passive infrared sensor assembly of FIG.11;

FIG. 13 is a top view of the passive infrared sensor assembly of FIG.11, illustrating the fields of view of the passive infrared sensorsaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 a functional block diagram of the components of the A/Vrecording and communication device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 15 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anA/V recording and communication device according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of aserver according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an A/V recording and communicationdevice having two cameras with substantially coincident fields of viewaccording to various aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process forsuperimposing image data from two cameras according to various aspectsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process forsuperimposing first image data from a first camera onto second imagedata from a second camera according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating active motion blocks according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a process forsuperimposing image data according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 22 is a functional block diagram of a client device on which thepresent embodiments may be implemented according to various aspects ofthe present disclosure; and

FIG. 23 is a functional block diagram of a general-purpose computingsystem on which the present embodiments may be implemented according tovarious aspects of present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description describes the present embodimentswith reference to the drawings. In the drawings, reference numbers labelelements of the present embodiments. These reference numbers arereproduced below in connection with the discussion of the correspondingdrawing features.

The embodiments of the present audio/video (A/V) recording andcommunication devices with multiple cameras for superimposing image dataare described below with reference to the figures. These figures, andtheir written descriptions, indicate that certain components of theapparatus are formed integrally, and certain other components are formedas separate pieces. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethat components shown and described herein as being formed integrallymay in alternative embodiments be formed as separate pieces. Those ofordinary skill in the art will further appreciate that components shownand described herein as being formed as separate pieces may inalternative embodiments be formed integrally. Further, as used hereinthe term integral describes a single unitary piece.

With reference to FIG. 1, the present embodiments include an audio/video(A/V) device 100. While the present disclosure provides numerousexamples of methods and systems including A/V recording andcommunication doorbells, the present embodiments are equally applicablefor A/V recording and communication devices other than doorbells. Forexample, the present embodiments may include one or more A/V recordingand communication security cameras instead of, or in addition to, one ormore A/V recording and communication doorbells. An example A/V recordingand communication security camera may include substantially all of thestructure and/or functionality of the doorbells described herein, butwithout the front button and related components.

The A/V recording and communication device 100 may be located near theentrance to a structure (not shown), such as a dwelling, a business, astorage facility, etc. The A/V recording and communication device 100includes a camera 102, a microphone 104, and a speaker 106. The camera102 may comprise, for example, a high definition (HD) video camera, suchas one capable of capturing video images at an image display resolutionof 720 p or better. While not shown, the A/V recording and communicationdevice 100 may also include other hardware and/or components, such as ahousing, a communication module (which may facilitate wired and/orwireless communication with other devices), one or more motion sensors(and/or other types of sensors), a button, etc. The A/V recording andcommunication device 100 may further include similar componentry and/orfunctionality as the wireless communication doorbells described in USPatent Application Publication Nos. 2015/0022620 (application Ser. No.14/499,828) and 2015/0022618 (application Ser. No. 14/334,922), both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties as iffully set forth.

With further reference to FIG. 1, the A/V recording and communicationdevice 100 communicates with a user's network 110, which may be forexample a wired and/or wireless network. If the user's network 110 iswireless, or includes a wireless component, the network 110 may be aWi-Fi network compatible with the IEEE 802.11 standard and/or otherwireless communication standard(s). The user's network 110 is connectedto another network 112, which may comprise, for example, the Internetand/or a public switched telephone network (PSTN). As described below,the A/V recording and communication device 100 may communicate with theuser's client device 114 via the user's network 110 and the network 112(Internet/PSTN). The user's client device 114 may comprise, for example,a mobile telephone (may also be referred to as a cellular telephone),such as a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or anothercommunication and/or computing device. The user's client device 114comprises a display (not shown) and related components capable ofdisplaying streaming and/or recorded video images. The user's clientdevice 114 may also comprise a speaker and related components capable ofbroadcasting streaming and/or recorded audio, and may also comprise amicrophone. The A/V recording and communication device 100 may alsocommunicate with one or more remote storage device(s) 116 (may bereferred to interchangeably as “cloud storage device(s)”), one or moreservers 118, and/or a backend API (application programming interface)120 via the user's network 110 and the network 112 (Internet/PSTN).While FIG. 1 illustrates the storage device 116, the server 118, and thebackend API 120 as components separate from the network 112, it is to beunderstood that the storage device 116, the server 118, and/or thebackend API 120 may be considered to be components of the network 112.

The network 112 may be any wireless network or any wired network, or acombination thereof, configured to operatively couple theabove-mentioned modules, devices, and systems as shown in FIG. 1. Forexample, the network 112 may include one or more of the following: aPSTN (public switched telephone network), the Internet, a localintranet, a PAN (Personal Area Network), a LAN (Local Area Network), aWAN (Wide Area Network), a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a virtualprivate network (VPN), a storage area network (SAN), a frame relayconnection, an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) connection, asynchronous optical network (SONET) connection, a digital T1, T3, E1 orE3 line, a Digital Data Service (DDS) connection, a DSL (DigitalSubscriber Line) connection, an Ethernet connection, an ISDN (IntegratedServices Digital Network) line, a dial-up port such as a V.90, V.34, orV.34bis analog modem connection, a cable modem, an ATM (AsynchronousTransfer Mode) connection, or an FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface)or CDDI (Copper Distributed Data Interface) connection. Furthermore,communications may also include links to any of a variety of wirelessnetworks, including WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), GPRS (GeneralPacket Radio Service), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication),LTE, VoLTE, LoRaWAN, LPWAN, RPMA, LTE, Cat-“X” (e.g., LTE Cat 1, LTE Cat0, LTE CatM1, LTE Cat NB1), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), TDMA(Time Division Multiple Access), FDMA (Frequency Division MultipleAccess), and/or OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)cellular phone networks, GNSS (global navigation satellite system, e.g.,GPS (Global Positioning System)), CDPD (cellular digital packet data),RIM (Research in Motion, Limited) duplex paging network, Bluetoothradio, or an IEEE 802.11-based radio frequency network. The network canfurther include or interface with any one or more of the following:RS-232 serial connection, IEEE-1394 (Firewire) connection, Fibre Channelconnection, IrDA (infrared) port, SCSI (Small Computer SystemsInterface) connection, USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection, or otherwired or wireless, digital or analog, interface or connection, mesh orDigi® networking.

According to one or more aspects of the present embodiments, when aperson (may be referred to interchangeably as “visitor”) arrives at theA/V recording and communication device 100, the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 detects the visitor's presence and beginscapturing video images within a field of view of the camera 102. The A/Vcommunication device 100 may also capture audio through the microphone104. The A/V recording and communication device 100 may detect thevisitor's presence by detecting motion using the camera 102 and/or amotion sensor, and/or by detecting that the visitor has pressed a frontbutton of the A/V recording and communication device 100 (if the A/Vrecording and communication device 100 is a doorbell).

In response to the detection of the visitor, the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 sends an alert to the user's client device 114(FIG. 1) via the user's network 110 and the network 112. The A/Vrecording and communication device 100 also sends streaming video, andmay also send streaming audio, to the user's client device 114. If theuser answers the alert, two-way audio communication may then occurbetween the visitor and the user through the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 and the user's client device 114. The user mayview the visitor throughout the duration of the call, but the visitorcannot see the user (unless the A/V recording and communication device100 includes a display, which it may in some embodiments).

The video images captured by the camera 102 of the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 (and the audio captured by the microphone 104)may be uploaded to the cloud and recorded on the remote storage device116 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, the video and/or audio may berecorded on the remote storage device 116 even if the user chooses toignore the alert sent to his or her client device 114.

With further reference to FIG. 1, the system may further comprise abackend API 120 including one or more components. A backend API(application programming interface) may comprise, for example, a server(e.g., a real server, or a virtual machine, or a machine running in acloud infrastructure as a service), or multiple servers networkedtogether, exposing at least one API to client(s) accessing it. Theseservers may include components such as application servers (e.g.,software servers), depending upon what other components are included,such as a caching layer, or database layers, or other components. Abackend API may, for example, comprise many such applications, each ofwhich communicate with one another using their public APIs. In someembodiments, the API backend may hold the bulk of the user data andoffer the user management capabilities, leaving the clients to have verylimited state.

The backend API 120 illustrated FIG. 1 may include one or more APIs. AnAPI is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software andapplications. An API expresses a software component in terms of itsoperations, inputs, outputs, and underlying types, definingfunctionalities that are independent of their respectiveimplementations, which allows definitions and implementations to varywithout compromising the interface. Advantageously, an API may provide aprogrammer with access to an application's functionality without theprogrammer needing to modify the application itself, or even understandhow the application works. An API may be for a web-based system, anoperating system, or a database system, and it provides facilities todevelop applications for that system using a given programming language.In addition to accessing databases or computer hardware like hard diskdrives or video cards, an API can ease the work of programming GUIcomponents. For example, an API can facilitate integration of newfeatures into existing applications (a so-called “plug-in API”). An APIcan also assist otherwise distinct applications with sharing data, whichcan help to integrate and enhance the functionalities of theapplications.

The backend API 120 illustrated in FIG. 1 may further include one ormore services (also referred to as network services). A network serviceis an application that provides data storage, manipulation,presentation, communication, and/or other capability. Network servicesare often implemented using a client-server architecture based onapplication-layer network protocols. Each service may be provided by aserver component running on one or more computers (such as a dedicatedserver computer offering multiple services) and accessed via a networkby client components running on other devices. However, the client andserver components can both be run on the same machine. Clients andservers may have a user interface, and sometimes other hardwareassociated with them.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process for streaming and storingA/V content from the A/V recording and communication device 100according to various aspects of the present disclosure. At block B200,the A/V recording and communication device 100 detects the visitor'spresence and captures video images within a field of view of the camera102. The A/V recording and communication device 100 may also captureaudio through the microphone 104. As described above, the A/V recordingand communication device 100 may detect the visitor's presence bydetecting motion using the camera 102 and/or a motion sensor, and/or bydetecting that the visitor has pressed a front button of the A/Vrecording and communication device 100 (if the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 is a doorbell). Also as described above, thevideo recording/capture may begin when the visitor is detected, or maybegin earlier, as described below.

At block B202, a communication module of the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 sends a connection request, via the user'snetwork 110 and the network 112, to a device in the network 112. Forexample, the network device to which the request is sent may be a serversuch as the server 118. The server 118 may comprise a computer programand/or a machine that waits for requests from other machines or software(clients) and responds to them. A server typically processes data. Onepurpose of a server is to share data and/or hardware and/or softwareresources among clients. This architecture is called the client-servermodel. The clients may run on the same computer or may connect to theserver over a network. Examples of computing servers include databaseservers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, gameservers, and application servers. The term server may be construedbroadly to include any computerized process that shares a resource toone or more client processes. In another example, the network device towhich the request is sent may be an API such as the backend API 120,which is described above.

In response to the request, at block B204 the network device may connectthe A/V recording and communication device 100 to the user's clientdevice 114 through the user's network 110 and the network 112. At blockB206, the A/V recording and communication device 100 may recordavailable audio and/or video data using the camera 102, the microphone104, and/or any other device/sensor available. At block B208, the audioand/or video data is transmitted (streamed) from the A/V recording andcommunication device 100 to the user's client device 114 via the user'snetwork 110 and the network 112. At block B210, the user may receive anotification on his or her client device 114 with a prompt to eitheraccept or deny the call.

At block B212, the process determines whether the user has accepted ordenied the call. If the user denies the notification, then the processadvances to block B214, where the audio and/or video data is recordedand stored at a cloud server. The session then ends at block B216 andthe connection between the A/V recording and communication device 100and the user's client device 114 is terminated. If, however, the useraccepts the notification, then at block B218 the user communicates withthe visitor through the user's client device 114 while audio and/orvideo data captured by the camera 102, the microphone 104, and/or otherdevices/sensors is streamed to the user's client device 114. At the endof the call, the user may terminate the connection between the user'sclient device 114 and the A/V recording and communication device 100 andthe session ends at block B216. In some embodiments, the audio and/orvideo data may be recorded and stored at a cloud server (block B214)even if the user accepts the notification and communicates with thevisitor through the user's client device 114.

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate a wireless audio/video (A/V) communication doorbell130 according to an aspect of present embodiments. FIG. 3 is a frontview, FIG. 4 is a rear view, and FIG. 5 is a left side view of thedoorbell 130 coupled with a mounting bracket 137. The doorbell 130includes a faceplate 135 mounted to a back plate 139 (FIG. 4). Withreference to FIG. 5, the faceplate 135 has a substantially flat profile.The faceplate 135 may comprise any suitable material, including, withoutlimitation, metals, such as brushed aluminum or stainless steel, metalalloys, or plastics. The faceplate 135 protects the internal contents ofthe doorbell 130 and serves as an exterior front surface of the doorbell130.

With reference to FIG. 3, the faceplate 135 includes a button 133 and alight pipe 136. The button 133 and the light pipe 136 may have variousprofiles that may or may not match the profile of the faceplate 135. Thelight pipe 136 may comprise any suitable material, including, withoutlimitation, transparent plastic, that is capable of allowing lightproduced within the doorbell 130 to pass through. The light may beproduced by one or more light-emitting components, such aslight-emitting diodes (LED's), contained within the doorbell 130, asfurther described below. The button 133 may make contact with a buttonactuator (not shown) located within the doorbell 130 when the button 133is pressed by a visitor. When pressed, the button 133 may trigger one ormore functions of the doorbell 130, as further described below.

With reference to FIGS. 3 and 5, the doorbell 130 further includes anenclosure 131 that engages the faceplate 135. In the illustratedembodiment, the enclosure 131 abuts an upper edge 135T (FIG. 3) of thefaceplate 135, but in alternative embodiments one or more gaps betweenthe enclosure 131 and the faceplate 135 may facilitate the passage ofsound and/or light through the doorbell 130. The enclosure 131 maycomprise any suitable material, but in some embodiments the material ofthe enclosure 131 preferably permits infrared light to pass through frominside the doorbell 130 to the environment and vice versa. The doorbell130 further includes a lens 132. In some embodiments, the lens maycomprise a Fresnel lens, which may be patterned to deflect incominglight into one or more infrared sensors located within the doorbell 130.The doorbell 130 further includes a camera 134, which captures videodata when activated, as described below.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the doorbell 130, according to an aspect of thepresent embodiments. As illustrated, the enclosure 131 may extend fromthe front of the doorbell 130 around to the back thereof and may fitsnugly around a lip of the back plate 139. The back plate 139 maycomprise any suitable material, including, without limitation, metals,such as brushed aluminum or stainless steel, metal alloys, or plastics.The back plate 139 protects the internal contents of the doorbell 130and serves as an exterior rear surface of the doorbell 130. Thefaceplate 135 may extend from the front of the doorbell 130 and at leastpartially wrap around the back plate 139, thereby allowing a coupledconnection between the faceplate 135 and the back plate 139. The backplate 139 may have indentations in its structure to facilitate thecoupling.

With further reference to FIG. 4, spring contacts 140 may provide powerto the doorbell 130 when mated with other conductive contacts connectedto a power source. The spring contacts 140 may comprise any suitableconductive material, including, without limitation, copper, and may becapable of deflecting when contacted by an inward force, for example theinsertion of a mating element. The doorbell 130 further comprises aconnector 160, such as a micro-USB or other connector, whereby powerand/or data may be supplied to and from the components within thedoorbell 130. A reset button 159 may be located on the back plate 139,and may make contact with a button actuator (not shown) located withinthe doorbell 130 when the reset button 159 is pressed. When the resetbutton 159 is pressed, it may trigger one or more functions, asdescribed below.

FIG. 5 is a left side profile view of the doorbell 130 coupled to themounting bracket 137, according to an aspect of the present embodiments.The mounting bracket 137 facilitates mounting the doorbell 130 to asurface, such as the exterior of a building, such as a home or office.As illustrated in FIG. 5, the faceplate 135 may extend from the bottomof the doorbell 130 up to just below the camera 134, and connect to theback plate 139 as described above. The lens 132 may extend and curlpartially around the side of the doorbell 130. The enclosure 131 mayextend and curl around the side and top of the doorbell 130, and may becoupled to the back plate 139 as described above. The camera 134 mayprotrude slightly through the enclosure 131, thereby giving it a widerfield of view. The mounting bracket 137 may couple with the back plate139 such that they contact each other at various points in a commonplane of contact, thereby creating an assembly including the doorbell130 and the mounting bracket 137. The couplings described in thisparagraph, and elsewhere, may be secured by, for example and withoutlimitation, screws, interference fittings, adhesives, or otherfasteners. Interference fittings may refer to a type of connection wherea material relies on pressure and/or gravity coupled with the material'sphysical strength to support a connection to a different element.

FIG. 6 is a right side cross-sectional view of the doorbell 130 withoutthe mounting bracket 137. In the illustrated embodiment, the lens 132 issubstantially coplanar with the front surface 131F of the enclosure 131.In alternative embodiments, the lens 132 may be recessed within theenclosure 131 or may protrude outward from the enclosure 131. The camera134 is coupled to a camera printed circuit board (PCB) 147, and a lens134 a of the camera 134 protrudes through an opening in the enclosure131. The camera lens 134 a may be a lens capable of focusing light intothe camera 134 so that clear images may be taken.

The camera PCB 147 may be secured within the doorbell with any suitablefasteners, such as screws, or interference connections, adhesives, etc.The camera PCB 147 comprises various components that enable thefunctionality of the camera 134 of the doorbell 130, as described below.Infrared light-emitting components, such as infrared LED's 168, arecoupled to the camera PCB 147 and may be triggered to activate when alight sensor detects a low level of ambient light. When activated, theinfrared LED's 168 may emit infrared light through the enclosure 131and/or the camera 134 out into the ambient environment. The camera 134,which may be configured to detect infrared light, may then capture thelight emitted by the infrared LED's 168 as it reflects off objectswithin the camera's 134 field of view, so that the doorbell 130 canclearly capture images at night (may be referred to as “night vision”).

With continued reference to FIG. 6, the doorbell 130 further comprises afront PCB 146, which in the illustrated embodiment resides in a lowerportion of the doorbell 130 adjacent a battery 166. The front PCB 146may be secured within the doorbell 130 with any suitable fasteners, suchas screws, or interference connections, adhesives, etc. The front PCB146 comprises various components that enable the functionality of theaudio and light components, as further described below. The battery 166may provide power to the doorbell 130 components while receiving powerfrom the spring contacts 140, thereby engaging in a trickle-chargemethod of power consumption and supply. Alternatively, the doorbell 130may draw power directly from the spring contacts 140 while relying onthe battery 166 only when the spring contacts 140 are not providing thepower necessary for all functions. Still further, the battery 166 maycomprise the sole source of power for the doorbell 130. In suchembodiments, the spring contacts 140 may not be connected to a source ofpower. When the battery 166 is depleted of its charge, it may berecharged, such as by connecting a power source to the connector 160.

With continued reference to FIG. 6, the doorbell 130 further comprises apower PCB 148, which in the illustrated embodiment resides behind thecamera PCB 147. The power PCB 148 may be secured within the doorbell 130with any suitable fasteners, such as screws, or interferenceconnections, adhesives, etc. The power PCB 148 comprises variouscomponents that enable the functionality of the power and device-controlcomponents, as further described below.

With continued reference to FIG. 6, the doorbell 130 further comprises acommunication module 164 coupled to the power PCB 148. The communicationmodule 164 facilitates communication with client devices in one or moreremote locations, as further described below. The connector 160 mayprotrude outward from the power PCB 148 and extend through a hole in theback plate 139. The doorbell 130 further comprises passive infrared(PIR) sensors 144, which are secured on or within a PIR sensor holder143, and the assembly resides behind the lens 132. In some embodiments,the doorbell 130 may comprise three PIR sensors 144, as furtherdescribed below, but in other embodiments any number of PIR sensors 144may be provided. The PIR sensor holder 143 may be secured to thedoorbell 130 with any suitable fasteners, such as screws, orinterference connections, adhesives, etc. The PIR sensors 144 may be anytype of sensor capable of detecting and communicating the presence of aheat source within their field of view. Further, alternative embodimentsmay comprise one or more motion sensors either in place of or inaddition to the PIR sensors 144. The motion sensors may be configured todetect motion using any methodology, such as a methodology that does notrely on detecting the presence of a heat source within a field of view.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the doorbell 130 and the mounting bracket137 according to an aspect of the present embodiments. The mountingbracket 137 is configured to be mounted to a mounting surface (notshown) of a structure, such as a home or an office. FIG. 7 shows thefront side 137F of the mounting bracket 137. The mounting bracket 137 isconfigured to be mounted to the mounting surface such that the back side137B thereof faces the mounting surface. In certain embodiments themounting bracket 137 may be mounted to surfaces of various composition,including, without limitation, wood, concrete, stucco, brick, vinylsiding, aluminum siding, etc., with any suitable fasteners, such asscrews, or interference connections, adhesives, etc. The doorbell 130may be coupled to the mounting bracket 137 with any suitable fasteners,such as screws, or interference connections, adhesives, etc.

With continued reference to FIG. 7, the illustrated embodiment of themounting bracket 137 includes the terminal screws 138. The terminalscrews 138 are configured to receive electrical wires adjacent themounting surface of the structure upon which the mounting bracket 137 ismounted, so that the doorbell 130 may receive electrical power from thestructure's electrical system. The terminal screws 138 are electricallyconnected to electrical contacts 177 of the mounting bracket. If poweris supplied to the terminal screws 138, then the electrical contacts 177also receive power through the terminal screws 138. The electricalcontacts 177 may comprise any suitable conductive material, including,without limitation, copper, and may protrude slightly from the face ofthe mounting bracket 137 so that they may mate with the spring contacts140 located on the back plate 139.

With reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 (which is a rear view of the mountingbracket 137), the mounting bracket 137 further comprises a bracket PCB149. With reference to FIG. 8, the bracket PCB 149 is situated outsidethe doorbell 130, and is therefore configured for various sensors thatmeasure ambient conditions, such as an accelerometer 150, a barometer151, a humidity sensor 152, and a temperature sensor 153. The functionsof these components are discussed in more detail below. The bracket PCB149 may be secured to the mounting bracket 137 with any suitablefasteners, such as screws, or interference connections, adhesives, etc.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are top and bottom views, respectively, of the doorbell130. As described above, the enclosure 131 may extend from the frontface 131F of the doorbell 130 to the back, where it contacts and snuglysurrounds the back plate 139. The camera 134 may protrude slightlybeyond the front face 131F of the enclosure 131, thereby giving thecamera 134 a wider field of view. The mounting bracket 137 may include asubstantially flat rear surface 137R, such that the doorbell 130 and themounting bracket 137 assembly may sit flush against the surface to whichthey are mounted. With reference to FIG. 10, the lower end of theenclosure 131 may include security screw apertures 141 configured toreceive screws or other fasteners.

FIG. 11 is a top view and FIG. 12 is a front view of a passive infraredsensor assembly 179 including the lens 132, the passive infrared sensorholder 143, the passive infrared sensors 144, and a flexible powercircuit 145. The passive infrared sensor holder 143 is configured tomount the passive infrared sensors 144 facing out through the lens 132at varying angles, thereby allowing the passive infrared sensor 144field of view to be expanded to 180° or more and also broken up intovarious zones, as further described below. The passive infrared sensorholder 143 may include one or more faces 178, including a center face178C and two side faces 178S to either side of the center face 178C.With reference to FIG. 12, each of the faces 178 defines an opening 181within or on which the passive infrared sensors 144 may be mounted. Inalternative embodiments, the faces 178 may not include openings 181, butmay instead comprise solid flat faces upon which the passive infraredsensors 144 may be mounted. Generally, the faces 178 may be any physicalstructure capable of housing and/or securing the passive infraredsensors 144 in place.

With reference to FIG. 11, the passive infrared sensor holder 143 may besecured to the rear face of the lens 132. The flexible power circuit 145may be any material or component capable of delivering power and/or datato and from the passive infrared sensors 144, and may be contoured toconform to the non-linear shape of the passive infrared sensor holder143. The flexible power circuit 145 may connect to, draw power from,and/or transmit data to and from, the power printed circuit board 148.

FIG. 13 is a top view of the passive infrared sensor assembly 179illustrating the fields of view of the passive infrared sensors 144. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the side faces 178S of the passive infraredsensor holder 143 are angled at 55° facing outward from the center face178C, and each passive infrared sensor 144 has a field of view of 110°.However, these angles may be increased or decreased as desired. Zone 1is the area that is visible only to a first one of the passive infraredsensors 144-1. Zone 2 is the area that is visible only to the firstpassive infrared sensor 144-1 and a second one of the passive infraredsensors 144-2. Zone 3 is the area that is visible only to the secondpassive infrared sensor 144-2. Zone 4 is the area that is visible onlyto the second passive infrared sensor 144-2 and a third one of thepassive infrared sensors 144-3. Zone 5 is the area that is visible onlyto the third passive infrared sensor 144-3. In some embodiments, thedoorbell 130 may be capable of determining the direction that an objectis moving based upon which zones are triggered in a time sequence.

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of the components within or incommunication with the doorbell 130, according to an aspect of thepresent embodiments. As described above, the bracket PCB 149 maycomprise an accelerometer 150, a barometer 151, a humidity sensor 152,and a temperature sensor 153. The accelerometer 150 may be one or moresensors capable of sensing motion and/or acceleration. The barometer 151may be one or more sensors capable of determining the atmosphericpressure of the surrounding environment in which the bracket PCB 149 maybe located. The humidity sensor 152 may be one or more sensors capableof determining the amount of moisture present in the atmosphericenvironment in which the bracket PCB 149 may be located. The temperaturesensor 153 may be one or more sensors capable of determining thetemperature of the ambient environment in which the bracket PCB 149 maybe located. As described above, the bracket PCB 149 may be locatedoutside the housing of the doorbell 130 so as to reduce interferencefrom heat, pressure, moisture, and/or other stimuli generated by theinternal components of the doorbell 130.

With further reference to FIG. 14, the bracket PCB 149 may furthercomprise terminal screw inserts 154, which may be configured to receivethe terminal screws 138 and transmit power to the electrical contacts177 on the mounting bracket 137 (FIG. 7). The bracket PCB 149 may beelectrically and/or mechanically coupled to the power PCB 148 throughthe terminal screws 138, the terminal screw inserts 154, the springcontacts 140, and the electrical contacts 177. The terminal screws 138may receive electrical wires located at the surface to which thedoorbell 130 is mounted, such as the wall of a building, so that thedoorbell can receive electrical power from the building's electricalsystem. Upon the terminal screws 138 being secured within the terminalscrew inserts 154, power may be transferred to the bracket PCB 149, andto all of the components associated therewith, including the electricalcontacts 177. The electrical contacts 177 may transfer electrical powerto the power PCB 148 by mating with the spring contacts 140.

With further reference to FIG. 14, the front PCB 146 may comprise alight sensor 155, one or more light-emitting components, such as LED's156, one or more speakers 157, and a microphone 158. The light sensor155 may be one or more sensors capable of detecting the level of ambientlight of the surrounding environment in which the doorbell 130 may belocated. LED's 156 may be one or more light-emitting diodes capable ofproducing visible light when supplied with power. The speakers 157 maybe any electromechanical device capable of producing sound in responseto an electrical signal input. The microphone 158 may be anacoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor capable of converting soundwaves into an electrical signal. When activated, the LED's 156 mayilluminate the light pipe 136 (FIG. 3). The front PCB 146 and allcomponents thereof may be electrically coupled to the power PCB 148,thereby allowing data and/or power to be transferred to and from thepower PCB 148 and the front PCB 146.

The speakers 157 and the microphone 158 may be coupled to the cameraprocessor 170 through an audio CODEC 161. For example, the transfer ofdigital audio from the user's client device 114 and the speakers 157 andthe microphone 158 may be compressed and decompressed using the audioCODEC 161, coupled to the camera processor 170. Once compressed by audioCODEC 161, digital audio data may be sent through the communicationmodule 164 to the network 112, routed by one or more servers 118, anddelivered to the user's client device 114. When the user speaks, afterbeing transferred through the network 112, digital audio data isdecompressed by audio CODEC 161 and emitted to the visitor via thespeakers 157.

With further reference to FIG. 14, the power PCB 148 may comprise apower management module 162, a microcontroller 163 (may also be referredto as “processor,” “CPU,” or “controller”), the communication module164, and power PCB non-volatile memory 165. In certain embodiments, thepower management module 162 may comprise an integrated circuit capableof arbitrating between multiple voltage rails, thereby selecting thesource of power for the doorbell 130. The battery 166, the springcontacts 140, and/or the connector 160 may each provide power to thepower management module 162. The power management module 162 may haveseparate power rails dedicated to the battery 166, the spring contacts140, and the connector 160. In one aspect of the present disclosure, thepower management module 162 may continuously draw power from the battery166 to power the doorbell 130, while at the same time routing power fromthe spring contacts 140 and/or the connector 160 to the battery 166,thereby allowing the battery 166 to maintain a substantially constantlevel of charge. Alternatively, the power management module 162 maycontinuously draw power from the spring contacts 140 and/or theconnector 160 to power the doorbell 130, while only drawing from thebattery 166 when the power from the spring contacts 140 and/or theconnector 160 is low or insufficient. Still further, the battery 166 maycomprise the sole source of power for the doorbell 130. In suchembodiments, the spring contacts 140 may not be connected to a source ofpower. When the battery 166 is depleted of its charge, it may berecharged, such as by connecting a power source to the connector 160.The power management module 162 may also serve as a conduit for databetween the connector 160 and the microcontroller 163.

With further reference to FIG. 14, in certain embodiments themicrocontroller 163 may comprise an integrated circuit including aprocessor core, memory, and programmable input/output peripherals. Themicrocontroller 163 may receive input signals, such as data and/orpower, from the PIR sensors 144, the bracket PCB 149, the powermanagement module 162, the light sensor 155, the microphone 158, and/orthe communication module 164, and may perform various functions asfurther described below. When the microcontroller 163 is triggered bythe PIR sensors 144, the microcontroller 163 may be triggered to performone or more functions. When the light sensor 155 detects a low level ofambient light, the light sensor 155 may trigger the microcontroller 163to enable “night vision,” as further described below. Themicrocontroller 163 may also act as a conduit for data communicatedbetween various components and the communication module 164.

With further reference to FIG. 14, the communication module 164 maycomprise an integrated circuit including a processor core, memory, andprogrammable input/output peripherals. The communication module 164 mayalso be configured to transmit data wirelessly to a remote networkdevice, and may include one or more transceivers (not shown). Thewireless communication may comprise one or more wireless networks, suchas, without limitation, Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, and/or satellitenetworks. The communication module 164 may receive inputs, such as powerand/or data, from the camera PCB 147, the microcontroller 163, thebutton 133, the reset button 159, and/or the power PCB non-volatilememory 165. When the button 133 is pressed, the communication module 164may be triggered to perform one or more functions. When the reset button159 is pressed, the communication module 164 may be triggered to eraseany data stored at the power PCB non-volatile memory 165 and/or at thecamera PCB memory 169. The communication module 164 may also act as aconduit for data communicated between various components and themicrocontroller 163. The power PCB non-volatile memory 165 may compriseflash memory configured to store and/or transmit data. For example, incertain embodiments the power PCB non-volatile memory 165 may compriseserial peripheral interface (SPI) flash memory.

With further reference to FIG. 14, the camera PCB 147 may comprisecomponents that facilitate the operation of the camera 134. For example,an imager 171 may comprise a video recording sensor and/or a camerachip. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the imager 171 maycomprise a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) array, and maybe capable of recording high definition (e.g., 720 p or better) videofiles. A camera processor 170 may comprise an encoding and compressionchip. In some embodiments, the camera processor 170 may comprise abridge processor. The camera processor 170 may process video recorded bythe imager 171 and audio recorded by the microphone 158, and maytransform this data into a form suitable for wireless transfer by thecommunication module 164 to a network. The camera PCB memory 169 maycomprise volatile memory that may be used when data is being buffered orencoded by the camera processor 170. For example, in certain embodimentsthe camera PCB memory 169 may comprise synchronous dynamic random accessmemory (SD RAM). IR LED's 168 may comprise light-emitting diodes capableof radiating infrared light. IR cut filter 167 may comprise a systemthat, when triggered, configures the imager 171 to see primarilyinfrared light as opposed to visible light. When the light sensor 155detects a low level of ambient light (which may comprise a level thatimpedes the performance of the imager 171 in the visible spectrum), theIR LED's 168 may shine infrared light through the doorbell 130 enclosureout to the environment, and the IR cut filter 167 may enable the imager171 to see this infrared light as it is reflected or refracted off ofobjects within the field of view of the doorbell. This process mayprovide the doorbell 130 with the “night vision” function mentionedabove.

As discussed above, the present disclosure provides numerous examples ofmethods and systems including A/V recording and communication doorbells,but the present embodiments are equally applicable for A/V recording andcommunication devices other than doorbells. For example, the presentembodiments may include one or more A/V recording and communicationsecurity cameras instead of, or in addition to, one or more A/Vrecording and communication doorbells. An example A/V recording andcommunication security camera may include substantially all of thestructure and functionality of the doorbell 130, but without the frontbutton 133, the button actuator, and/or the light pipe 136. An exampleA/V recording and communication security camera may further omit othercomponents, such as, for example, the bracket PCB 149 and itscomponents.

As described above, the present embodiments leverage the capabilities ofaudio/video (A/V) recording and communication devices, thereby providingenhanced functionality to such devices to reduce crime and increasepublic safety. One aspect of the present embodiments includes therealization that A/V recording and communication devices, and the userexperience associated with using such devices, could be enhanced byproviding higher quality video footage (“video footage” may also bereferred to as “image data”). For example, low-resolution video footagemay make it harder to correctly identify a person and/or to determinewhat actions are taking place in the video footage. Further,low-resolution video footage may make it harder for a user to determinethe location that the user is actually viewing. For example, in someembodiments, A/V recording and communication devices may have multiplecameras with overlapping (or substantially coincident) fields of view,where one camera is always on and continuously capturing low-resolutionfootage and another camera is selectively powered up and captureshigh-resolution footage. In such embodiments, the A/V recording andcommunication devices may have both low-resolution and high-resolutionfootage of the same scene but only low-resolution footage and nothigh-resolution footage of a particular time sequence. Thus, it would beadvantageous, therefore, to superimpose portions of the low-resolutionfootage onto portions of the high-resolution footage, and/or vice versa,to generate footage of a specific time sequence appearing of higherquality to the user.

FIG. 15 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of anA/V recording and communication device 300 according to various aspectsof the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the A/V recording andcommunication device 300 may be used with the system illustrated inFIG. 1. For example, the A/V recording and communication device 300 maytake the place of the A/V recording and communication device 100, or maybe used in conjunction with the A/V recording and communication device100.

With reference to FIG. 15, the A/V recording and communication device300 may comprise a processing module 312 that is operatively connectedto a first camera 302, a second camera 304, a microphone 306, a speaker308, and a communication module 310. The processing module 312 maycomprise a processor 314, volatile memory 316, and non-volatile memory318 that includes a camera application 320 and a rolling buffer 322. Thecamera application 320 may configure the processor 314 to capture firstimage data 324 using the first camera 302 at a first resolution andstore (may also be referred to as “save”) the first image data 324 inthe rolling buffer 322, as further described below. In some embodiments,the rolling buffer 322 may be configured to store a specific amount ofdata, such as (but not limited to) 10-15 seconds of the first image data324. The camera application 320 may also configure the processor 314 tomaintain the second camera 304 in a powered down state (may also bereferred to as a hibernation state, or a low-power state, or an offstate, or the like). In various embodiments, the camera application 320may also configure the processor 314 to power up the second camera 304in response to motion detection, as further described below. The cameraapplication 320 may further configure the processor 314 to capturesecond image data 326 using the second camera 304 at a second resolutionand store the second image data 326 in the non-volatile memory 318. Invarious embodiments, the camera application 320 may also configure theprocessor 314 to perform one or more processes for superimposing imagedata using the first image data 324 and the second image data 326, asfurther described below. In some embodiments, the camera application 320may configure the processor 314 to generate background video footage 328using the second image data 326 and determine at least one motion block330 using the first image data 324, as further described below, wherethe background video footage 328 and the at least one active motionblock 330 may be saved in the non-volatile memory 318. In alternativeembodiments, the rolling buffer 322 may be implemented in the volatilememory 316, or in a combination of the volatile memory 316 and thenon-volatile memory 318. Further, in alternative embodiments, the firstimage data 324, the second image data 326, the background video footage328, and/or the at least one active motion block 330 may be stored inthe volatile memory 316, or in a combination of the volatile memory 316and the non-volatile memory 318.

In further reference to FIG. 15, the communication module 310, maycomprise (but is not limited to) one or more transceivers and/orwireless antennas (not shown) configured to transmit and receivewireless signals. In further embodiments, the communication module 310may comprise (but is not limited to) one or more transceivers configuredto transmit and receive wired and/or wireless signals. In addition, theA/V recording and communication device 300 may be similar in structureand/or function to the A/V recording and communication device 130 (FIGS.3-14), with the added feature of a second camera. For example, the A/Vrecording and communication device 300 may include a first camerasimilar (or identical) in structure and/or function to the camera 134 ofthe A/V recording and communication device 130, and a second camera. Incertain embodiments, the second camera may also be similar (oridentical) in structure and/or function to the camera 134 of the A/Vrecording and communication device 130.

In further reference to FIG. 15, the first and second cameras 302, 304may differ from one another in one or more ways. For example, the firstresolution of the first camera 302 and the second resolution of thesecond camera 304 may be different. In some embodiments, the firstresolution may be higher than the second resolution, or vice versa. Thedifferent resolutions of the first and second cameras 302, 304 mayresult in the lower resolution camera also consuming less power than thehigher resolution camera. In some embodiments, the first camera 302,which may have a lower resolution and/or consume less power than thesecond camera 304, may remain in a persistent powered up state (e.g.,the first camera 302 may be powered on and recording image data at alltimes). The second camera 304, however, which may have a higherresolution and/or consume more power than the first camera 302, mayremain in a low-power state most of the time. This configuration, inwhich the first camera 302 is always powered on and the second camera304 is usually powered down, advantageously conserves power, which is ofparticular advantage in embodiments in which the A/V recording andcommunication device 300 is powered by a rechargeable battery (e.g., isnot connected to a source of external power, such as AC mains). Thesecond camera 304 may be powered up to capture image data only atcertain times, as described below, and may revert to the low-power stateafter a condition (e.g., motion in the field of view or motion zone)that caused the second camera 304 to power up is no longer extant. Insome embodiments, when the second camera 304 is powered up, the firstcamera 302 may power down in order to conserve the battery. The firstcamera 302 may then power up again when the second camera 304 againpowers down. In alternative embodiments, one of the cameras 302, 304 mayconsume less power than the other camera 304, 302 even if the differencein power consumption is unrelated to the resolution(s) of the twocameras 302, 304. For example, in some embodiments the two cameras 302,304 may have similar (or the same) resolution, but one of the cameras302, 304 may consume less power than the other camera 304, 302.

With further reference to FIG. 15, the image data 324, 326 may compriseimage sensor data such as (but not limited to) exposure values and dataregarding pixel values for a particular sized grid. Further, image datamay comprise converted image sensor data for standard image file formatssuch as (but not limited to) JPEG, JPEG 2000, TIFF, BMP, or PNG. Inaddition, image data may also comprise data related to video, where suchdata may include (but is not limited to) image sequences, frame rates,and the like. Moreover, image data may include data that is analog,digital, uncompressed, compressed, and/or in vector formats. Image datamay take on various forms and formats as appropriate to the requirementsof a specific application in accordance with the present embodiments. Asdescribed herein, the term “record” may also be referred to as “capture”as appropriate to the requirements of a specific application inaccordance with the present embodiments. Further, in the illustratedembodiment, the A/V recording and communication device 300 includes twocameras 302, 304. The present embodiments are not limited, however, todevices having two cameras. Rather, the present embodiments includealternative devices having any number of cameras, such as more than twocameras (e.g., three cameras, four cameras, five cameras, etc.).

FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram illustrating one embodiment of aserver 340 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Insome embodiments, the server 340 may be used with the system illustratedin FIG. 1. For example, the server 340 may take the place of the server118, or may be used in conjunction with the server 118. The server 340may also be used in conjunction with the A/V recording and communicationdevice 300 with the system illustrated in FIG. 1. In some embodiments,the server 340 may be in network communication with the A/V recordingand communication device 300, where the server 340 may be configured toreceive the first image data 324 captured using the first camera 302and/or the second image data 326 captured using the second camera 304,and may be configured to perform one or more processes for superimposingimage data, as further described below.

With reference to FIG. 16, the server 340 may comprise a processingmodule 342 comprising a processor 344, volatile memory 346, acommunication module 358, and non-volatile memory 348. The communicationmodule 358 may allow the server 340 to access and communicate withdevices connected to the network (Internet/PSTN) 112 (as illustrated inFIG. 1). The non-volatile memory 348 may include a server application350 that configures the processor 344 to perform processes forsuperimposing image data captured using the first camera 302 and thesecond camera 304, as further described below. In various embodiments,the server application 350 may also configure the processor 344 tosuperimpose the second image data 326 onto the first image data 324,and/or vice versa. For example, the server application 350 may configurethe processor 344 to superimpose the first image data 324 onto thesecond image data 326 by generating background video footage 352 usingthe second image data 326 and determining at least one motion block 354using the first image data 324, as further described below. In variousembodiments, the non-volatile memory 348 may save the first image data324, the second image data 326, the background video footage 352, andthe at least one active motion block 354 in the non-volatile memory 348.In alternative embodiments, the first image data 324, the second imagedata 326, the background video footage 352, and/or the at least oneactive motion block 354 may be stored in the volatile memory 346, or ina combination of the volatile memory 346 and the non-volatile memory348.

In the illustrated embodiments of FIGS. 15-16, the various componentsincluding (but not limited to) the processing modules 312, 342 and thecommunication modules 310, 358 are represented by separate boxes. Thegraphical representations depicted in each of FIGS. 15-16 are, however,merely examples, and are not intended to indicate that any of thevarious components of the A/V recording and communication device 300, orthe server 340, are necessarily physically separate from one another,although in some embodiments they might be. In other embodiments,however, the structure and/or functionality of any or all of thecomponents of the A/V recording and communication device 300 may becombined. For example, in some embodiments the communication module 310may include its own processor, volatile memory, and/or non-volatilememory. Likewise, the structure and/or functionality of any or all ofthe components of the server 340, may be combined. For example, in someembodiments the communication module 358 may include its own processor,volatile memory, and/or non-volatile memory.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an A/V recording and communicationdevice 300 having first and second cameras 302, 304 with substantiallycoincident fields of view 360, 362 according to various aspects of thepresent disclosure. In some embodiments, the first camera 302 maycomprise a first field of view 360 and the second camera 304 maycomprise a second field of view 362. The first and second fields of view360, 362 may be substantially coincident, or may at least havesubstantial overlap. For example, the first field of view 360 maycapture first image data 324 of a first tree 372, a structure 370, and asecond tree 374. Likewise, the second field of view 362 may capturesecond image data 326 of the same first tree 372, structure 370, andsecond tree 374. In some embodiments, the first camera 302 may be alwaysrecording and the second camera 304 may be powered up upon motiondetection, as further described below. In one example, the second camera304 may be powered up and configured to capture second image data 326when motion is detected in the motion zone 376. In this manner, the usermay determine an area of higher importance for monitoring and thusconserve power until motion is detected in the motion zone 376. Theoverlapping (or substantially coincident) fields of view 360, 362 may,in some embodiments, enable the first and second cameras 302, 304 towork in tandem to achieve various advantages, as further describedbelow. In some embodiments, the first and second cameras 302, 304 may bespaced from one another by a distance D, which may result in the fieldsof view 360, 362 being not completely coincident, and which may createone or more advantages.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process 400 forsuperimposing image data by the A/V recording and communication device300 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The process400 may include capturing (block B402) first image data 324 from thefirst field of view 360 using the first camera 302. In some embodiments,the first camera 302 may be configured to be maintained in a powered-onstate and continuously capture the first image data 324 using the firstcamera 302. The process 400 may also include storing (block B404) thefirst image data 324 captured by the first camera 302 to the rollingbuffer 322 (or a sliding window, or the like), which may be part of thevolatile memory 316 and/or the non-volatile memory 318. A rollingbuffer, which may also be referred to as a circular buffer, a circularqueue, a cyclic buffer, or a ring buffer, is a data structure that usesa single, fixed-size buffer as if it were connected end-to-end. In someembodiments, about 10-15 seconds (or more, such as 20 seconds, 25seconds, 30 seconds, etc.) of recorded footage can be continuouslystored in the rolling buffer 322.

In reference to FIG. 18, the process may also include detecting (blockB406) motion in the first field of view 360 and/or within the motionzone 376. If motion is not detected (block B406), then the process 400may continue to capture (block B402) first image data 324 and store(block B404) the first image data 324 in the rolling buffer 322.However, if motion is detected (block B406), then the process 400 mayinclude powering up (block B408) the second camera 304 and capturing(block B410) second image data 326 using the second camera 304 from thesecond field of view 362. In some embodiments, the first image data 324recorded by the first camera 302 may be used to determine (block B406)whether motion is present in the first field of view 360 and/or themotion zone 376. For example, the processor 314 may be configured tocompare pixel value changes in successive video frames of the firstimage data to determine whether motion is present. If motion is detectedin the first field of view 360 and/or the motion zone 376, then thesecond camera 304 may be powered up and used to capture (block B410)second image data 326 from the second field of view 362. In this manner,the first camera 302, which may consume less power than the secondcamera 304, may remain powered up so that it can be used for motiondetection, and when motion is detected then the second camera 304, whichmay have higher resolution than the first camera 302, may capturehigh-resolution image data 326 (e.g., second image data 326). Theprocess may further include superimposing (block B412) a portion of thefirst image data 324 onto the second image data 326, or vice versa, asfurther described below.

In further reference to FIG. 18, the process 400 may also includestreaming (block B414) the superimposed image data to a client device(such the client device 114 in FIG. 1) using the communication module310. In some embodiments, the A/V recording and communication device 300may also stream the second image data 326 captured using the secondcamera 304 to the client device 114. In some embodiments, thesuperimposed image data may be prepended as a pre-roll to the secondimage data 326 and streamed to the client device 114. For example, thesuperimposed image data may be streamed to the client device 114 at afirst stream rate and the second image data 326 captured using thesecond camera 304 may be streamed to the client device 114 at a secondstream rate, wherein the second stream rate is less than the firststream rate. In this manner, the streaming of the second image data 326can be presented to the user in real time as the streaming of thesuperimposed image data is streamed to the user's client device 114 at arate that is higher than the rate at which the second image data 326 isbeing captured and stored to the non-volatile memory 318. Thus, the usermay be provided with a more complete picture of the events that led tothe motion detection. In addition, the user may be provided with ahigher quality of video footage as the superimposed image data appearsof higher quality than if the user was provided with just the firstimage data being of lower resolution.

Image data such as the first image data 324 and second image data 326may be a time sequence of frames, where each frame is composed of a gridof pixels. For example, a 1920×1080 frame has 1920 rows and 1080 columnswith a pixel located at each intersection of a row and column. Further,each pixel may have numerical values that correspond to color or chromacomponent (such as Cb, Cr) and a luma or brightness component (Y).Although different methods of pixel valuations exist, YCbCr is a widelyused color space coding scheme. In this manner, the camera application320 may configure the processor 314 to obtain the numerical values thatdefine a pixel in each frame, such as the Cb value, for example. Inaddition, the human eye is less perceptive to resolution quality wherethere is motion between frames. Thus, using high-resolution frames forthe static background and superimposing active motion blocks oflow-resolution frames for portions with motion may give the superimposedimage data a perception of higher-resolution to the user. This processis described in further detail below.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process 450 forsuperimposing the first image data 324 onto the second image data 326according to various aspects of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the first camera 302 may be configured to capture imagedata (e.g., the first image data 324) at a first resolution and thesecond camera 304 may be configured to capture image data (e.g., thesecond image data 326) at a second resolution, where the secondresolution is higher than the first resolution. In various embodiments,the first image data 324 that is stored in the rolling buffer 322 mayinclude a plurality of low-resolution frames. The second image data 326may include at least one high-resolution frame. For example, inembodiments where the second camera 304 powers up and captures a singleframe, the second image data 326 may include a single high-resolutionframe. However, in embodiments where the second camera 304 powers up andcaptures more than a single frame, the second image data 326 may includea plurality of high-resolution frames.

In reference to FIG. 19, the process 450 may include selecting (blockB452) a high-resolution frame from the second image data 326. Theprocess 450 may also include generating (block B454) a background videofootage 328 using the high-resolution frame. In some embodiments, thebackground video footage 328 may be generated by repeating the singlehigh-resolution frame to create a background video footage of apredetermined length. In various embodiments, the predetermined lengthmay be the same length of time that the rolling buffer 322 is configuredto save of the first image data 324. The process 450 may also includedetermining (block B456) at least one active motion block 330 from theplurality of low-resolution frames of the first image data 324. In someembodiments, the at least one motion blocks 330 may be determined bycomparing pixel values of a first one of the low-resolution frames withcorresponding pixel values of a second one of the low-resolution frames,as described below. In various embodiments, the active motion blocks 330may be select portions within a frame and may include the pixel valuescorresponding to the select portions within the frame. The process 450may further include superimposing (block B458) the first image data 324captured using the first camera 302 onto the second image data 326captured using the second camera 304 by superimposing (block B548) theat least one active motion block onto at least one of the singlehigh-resolution frames of the background video footage 328. In thismanner, the pre-roll video footage transmitted to a user's client device(such as client device 114 in FIG. 1) may appear to be ofhigh-resolution as only the portions with active motion are inlow-resolution.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a process for determining (block B456)active motion blocks 330 of the first image data 324 according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. As described above, the firstimage data 324 stored in the rolling buffer 322 may include a pluralityof low-resolution frames 500, 502, 504. In some embodiments, the atleast one active motion block(s) 330 may be determined by comparingpixel values of a first one of the low-resolution frames withcorresponding pixel values of a second one of the low-resolution frames.For example, a person 378 may move within the fields of view 360, 362toward the motion zone 376. At a first time T₁, frame 500 includes pixelvalues illustrating the first tree 372, the structure 370, the secondtree 374, and the person 378. In frame 500, the person 378 is in frontof the first tree 372 and not within the motion zone 376. At a secondtime T₂, frame 502 again includes pixel values illustrating the firsttree 372, the structure 370, the second tree 374, and the person 378.However, the person 378 has moved closer toward the motion zone 376 andis now past the first tree 372 and approaching the motion zone 376. Bycomparing pixel values of frame 500 with corresponding pixel values offrame 502, the movement of the person 378 may be determined and theportion of the frame including the person 378 may be designated as anactive motion block 330. In contrast, the pixel values of the first tree372, the structure 370, and the second tree 374 have not changed fromframe 500 to frame 502 and thus would not be included as an activemotion block 330. To further illustrate, at time T₃, frame 504 showsthat the person 378 has moved into the motion zone 376 and closer to theentrance of the structure 370. Again, by comparing pixel values of frame502 with corresponding pixel values of frame 504, movement of the person378 may be determined as an active motion block 330. Further, the person378 entering the motion zone 376 may also power up the second camera304, where the second camera 304 captures image data (e.g., the secondimage data 326) that includes at least one high-resolution frame, asdescribed above. In various embodiments, the active motion blocks 330may be superimposed onto the at least one of the single high-resolutionframes of the background video footage 328, as described above. A personviewing the superimposed image data in the frames 500, 502, 504 wouldthus see the person 378 (in the active motion block 330 captured by thefirst camera 302) in low-resolution moving across the static backgroundcaptured by the high-resolution second camera 304.

In further reference to FIG. 20, in some embodiments, the comparisonbetween frames may include a tolerance level well known in the art toaccount for subtle movements that may not be of interest to the user andthe overall advantages of the system. For example, if the trees 372, 374move due to wind, the changes in pixel values between frames 500 and 502corresponding to the trees 372, 374 may be within a tolerance level suchthat the portion of the frames 500, 502 that includes the trees 372, 374are not determined to be active motion blocks 330. In some embodiments,the first image data 324 stored in the rolling buffer 322 may be encoded(e.g., pixel values are converted into a compressed format) using eitheran inter-frame and/or intra-frame compression methods well-known in theart. For example, the first image data 324 may be processed by applyinga discrete cosine transform (“DCT”) to encode spatial redundancy betweenframes. In some embodiments, the active motion blocks 330 may bedetermined using the encoded data points such as (but not limited to)DCT values.

Further, one of skill in the art would recognize that low-resolutionframes 500, 502, 504 are for illustrative purposes only. For example,10-15 seconds of first image data 324 stored in the rolling buffer 322would include many more low-resolution frames (depending on the framerate per second) and the number of frames used to determine activemotion blocks 330 may depend on the processing capacity and capabilitiesof the A/V recording and communication device 300. In some embodiments,the various processes for superimposing image data may be performed atthe server 340. For example, in such embodiments, the A/V recording andcommunication device 300 may transmit the first image data 324 capturedusing the first camera 302 and stored in the rolling buffer 322 and thesecond image data 326 captured using the second camera 304 to the server340 using the communication module 310 for processing at the server 340.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating another embodiment of a process 470for superimposing image data according to various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In various embodiments, the process 470 may be performedusing the server 340 and include receiving (block B472) first image data324 using the communication module 358, where the first image data 324is captured using the first camera 302 and stored in the rolling buffer322 of the A/V recording and communication device 300. The process 470may also include receiving (block B474) second image data 326 capturedusing the second camera 304 using the communication module 358. Thefirst image data 324 may include a plurality of low-resolution framesand the second image data 326 may include at least one high-resolutionframe, as described above. The process 470 may further includesuperimposing (block B476) the first image data 324 onto the secondimage data 326, or vice versa, where the processor 344 may be configuredby the server application 350 to perform the processes as describedabove with respect to FIGS. 19 and 20.

In further reference to FIG. 21, the process 470 may include streaming(block B478) the first image data 324 superimposed onto the second imagedata 326 to a client device (such as the client device 114 in FIG. 1)using the communication module 358. In some embodiments, the server 340may also stream the second image data 326 captured using the secondcamera 304 to the client device 114. In some embodiments, thesuperimposed image data may be prepended as a pre-roll to the secondimage data 326 and streamed to the client device 114. In this manner,the user may be provided with a more complete picture of the events thatled to the motion detection. For example, the superimposed image datamay be streamed to the client device 114 at a first stream rate and thesecond image data 326 captured using the second camera 304 may bestreamed to the client device 114 at a second stream rate, wherein thesecond stream rate is less than the first stream rate.

FIG. 22 is a functional block diagram of a client device 800 on whichthe present embodiments may be implemented according to various aspectsof the present disclosure. The user's client device 114 described withreference to FIG. 1 may include some or all of the components and/orfunctionality of the client device 800. The client device 800 maycomprise, for example, a smartphone.

With reference to FIG. 22, the client device 800 includes a processor802, a memory 804, a user interface 806, a communication module 808, anda dataport 810. These components are communicatively coupled together byan interconnect bus 812. The processor 802 may include any processorused in smartphones and/or portable computing devices, such as an ARMprocessor (a processor based on the RISC (reduced instruction setcomputer) architecture developed by Advanced RISC Machines (ARM).). Insome embodiments, the processor 802 may include one or more otherprocessors, such as one or more conventional microprocessors, and/or oneor more supplementary co-processors, such as math co-processors.

The memory 804 may include both operating memory, such as random accessmemory (RAM), as well as data storage, such as read-only memory (ROM),hard drives, flash memory, or any other suitable memory/storage element.The memory 804 may include removable memory elements, such as aCompactFlash card, a MultiMediaCard (MMC), and/or a Secure Digital (SD)card. In some embodiments, the memory 804 may comprise a combination ofmagnetic, optical, and/or semiconductor memory, and may include, forexample, RAM, ROM, flash drive, and/or a hard disk or drive. Theprocessor 802 and the memory 804 each may be, for example, locatedentirely within a single device, or may be connected to each other by acommunication medium, such as a USB port, a serial port cable, a coaxialcable, an Ethernet-type cable, a telephone line, a radio frequencytransceiver, or other similar wireless or wired medium or combination ofthe foregoing. For example, the processor 802 may be connected to thememory 804 via the dataport 810.

The user interface 806 may include any user interface or presentationelements suitable for a smartphone and/or a portable computing device,such as a keypad, a display screen, a touchscreen, a microphone, and aspeaker. The communication module 808 is configured to handlecommunication links between the client device 800 and other, externaldevices or receivers, and to route incoming/outgoing data appropriately.For example, inbound data from the dataport 810 may be routed throughthe communication module 808 before being directed to the processor 802,and outbound data from the processor 802 may be routed through thecommunication module 808 before being directed to the dataport 810. Thecommunication module 808 may include one or more transceiver modulescapable of transmitting and receiving data, and using, for example, oneor more protocols and/or technologies, such as GSM, UMTS (3GSM), IS-95(CDMA one), IS-2000 (CDMA 2000), LTE, FDMA, TDMA, W-CDMA, CDMA, OFDMA,Wi-Fi, WiMAX, or any other protocol and/or technology.

The dataport 810 may be any type of connector used for physicallyinterfacing with a smartphone and/or a portable computing device, suchas a mini-USB port or an IPHONE®/IPOD® 30-pin connector or LIGHTNING®connector. In other embodiments, the dataport 810 may include multiplecommunication channels for simultaneous communication with, for example,other processors, servers, and/or client terminals.

The memory 804 may store instructions for communicating with othersystems, such as a computer. The memory 804 may store, for example, aprogram (e.g., computer program code) adapted to direct the processor802 in accordance with the present embodiments. The instructions alsomay include program elements, such as an operating system. Whileexecution of sequences of instructions in the program causes theprocessor 802 to perform the process steps described herein, hard-wiredcircuitry may be used in place of, or in combination with,software/firmware instructions for implementation of the processes ofthe present embodiments. Thus, the present embodiments are not limitedto any specific combination of hardware and software.

FIG. 23 is a functional block diagram of a general-purpose computingsystem on which the present embodiments may be implemented according tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. The computer system 900 maybe embodied in at least one of a personal computer (also referred to asa desktop computer) 900A, a portable computer (also referred to as alaptop or notebook computer) 900B, and/or a server 900C. A server is acomputer program and/or a machine that waits for requests from othermachines or software (clients) and responds to them. A server typicallyprocesses data. The purpose of a server is to share data and/or hardwareand/or software resources among clients. This architecture is called theclient-server model. The clients may run on the same computer or mayconnect to the server over a network. Examples of computing serversinclude database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, webservers, game servers, and application servers. The term server may beconstrued broadly to include any computerized process that shares aresource to one or more client processes.

The computer system 900 may execute at least some of the operationsdescribed above. The computer system 900 may include at least oneprocessor 910, memory 920, at least one storage device 930, andinput/output (I/O) devices 940. Some or all of the components 910, 920,930, 940 may be interconnected via a system bus 950. The processor 910may be single- or multi-threaded and may have one or more cores. Theprocessor 910 may execute instructions, such as those stored in thememory 920 and/or in the storage device 930. Information may be receivedand output using one or more I/O devices 940.

The memory 920 may store information, and may be a computer-readablemedium, such as volatile or non-volatile memory. The storage device(s)930 may provide storage for the system 900, and may be acomputer-readable medium. In various aspects, the storage device(s) 930may be a flash memory device, a hard disk device, an optical diskdevice, a tape device, or any other type of storage device.

The I/O devices 940 may provide input/output operations for the system900. The I/O devices 940 may include a keyboard, a pointing device,and/or a microphone. The I/O devices 940 may further include a displayunit for displaying graphical user interfaces, a speaker, and/or aprinter. External data may be stored in one or more accessible externaldatabases 960.

The features of the present embodiments described herein may beimplemented in digital electronic circuitry, and/or in computerhardware, firmware, software, and/or in combinations thereof. Featuresof the present embodiments may be implemented in a computer programproduct tangibly embodied in an information carrier, such as amachine-readable storage device, and/or in a propagated signal, forexecution by a programmable processor. Embodiments of the present methodsteps may be performed by a programmable processor executing a programof instructions to perform functions of the described implementations byoperating on input data and generating output.

The features of the present embodiments described herein may beimplemented in one or more computer programs that are executable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processorcoupled to receive data and/or instructions from, and to transmit dataand/or instructions to, a data storage system, at least one inputdevice, and at least one output device. A computer program may include aset of instructions that may be used, directly or indirectly, in acomputer to perform a certain activity or bring about a certain result.A computer program may be written in any form of programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, and it may be deployed inany form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component,subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment.

Suitable processors for the execution of a program of instructions mayinclude, for example, both general and special purpose processors,and/or the sole processor or one of multiple processors of any kind ofcomputer. Generally, a processor may receive instructions and/or datafrom a read only memory (ROM), or a random access memory (RAM), or both.Such a computer may include a processor for executing instructions andone or more memories for storing instructions and/or data.

Generally, a computer may also include, or be operatively coupled tocommunicate with, one or more mass storage devices for storing datafiles. Such devices include magnetic disks, such as internal hard disksand/or removable disks, magneto-optical disks, and/or optical disks.Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodying computer programinstructions and/or data may include all forms of non-volatile memory,including for example semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM,EEPROM, and flash memory devices, magnetic disks such as internal harddisks and removable disks, magneto-optical disks, and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks. The processor and the memory may be supplemented by, orincorporated in, one or more ASICs (application-specific integratedcircuits).

To provide for interaction with a user, the features of the presentembodiments may be implemented on a computer having a display device,such as an LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor, for displayinginformation to the user. The computer may further include a keyboard, apointing device, such as a mouse or a trackball, and/or a touchscreen bywhich the user may provide input to the computer.

The features of the present embodiments may be implemented in a computersystem that includes a back-end component, such as a data server, and/orthat includes a middleware component, such as an application server oran Internet server, and/or that includes a front-end component, such asa client computer having a graphical user interface (GUI) and/or anInternet browser, or any combination of these. The components of thesystem may be connected by any form or medium of digital datacommunication, such as a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks may include, for example, a LAN (local areanetwork), a WAN (wide area network), and/or the computers and networksforming the Internet.

The computer system may include clients and servers. A client and servermay be remote from each other and interact through a network, such asthose described herein. The relationship of client and server may ariseby virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

The above description presents the best mode contemplated for carryingout the present embodiments, and of the manner and process of practicingthem, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable anyperson skilled in the art to which they pertain to practice theseembodiments. The present embodiments are, however, susceptible tomodifications and alternate constructions from those discussed abovethat are fully equivalent. Consequently, the present invention is notlimited to the particular embodiments disclosed. On the contrary, thepresent invention covers all modifications and alternate constructionscoming within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Forexample, the steps in the processes described herein need not beperformed in the same order as they have been presented, and may beperformed in any order(s). Further, steps that have been presented asbeing performed separately may in alternative embodiments be performedconcurrently. Likewise, steps that have been presented as beingperformed concurrently may in alternative embodiments be performedseparately.

What is claimed is:
 1. An audio/video (A/V) recording and communicationdevice comprising: a first camera configured to capture image data at afirst resolution; a second camera configured to capture image data at asecond resolution, wherein the second resolution is higher than thefirst resolution; a memory including a rolling buffer; a communicationmodule; and a processing module operatively connected to the firstcamera, the memory, and the communication module, the processing modulecomprising: a processor; and a camera application, wherein the cameraapplication configures the processor to: capture first image data usingthe first camera; store the first image data captured using the firstcamera in the rolling buffer of the memory; maintain the second camerain a low-power state; power up the second camera in response to motiondetection; capture second image data using the second camera; andsuperimpose the first image data captured using the first camera ontothe second image data captured using the second camera.
 2. The A/Vrecording and communication device of claim 1, wherein the cameraapplication further configures the processor to maintain the firstcamera in a powered-on state and continuously capture the first imagedata using the first camera.
 3. The A/V recording and communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein the camera application further configures theprocessor to place the first camera into a low-power state when thesecond camera is powered up.
 4. The A/V recording and communicationdevice of claim 1, wherein the camera application further configures theprocessor to revert the second camera to the low-power state when thedetected motion is no longer present.
 5. The A/V recording andcommunication device of claim 4, wherein the camera application furtherconfigures the processor to power up the first camera when the secondcamera is reverted to the low-power state.
 6. The A/V recording andcommunication device of claim 1, wherein the camera application furtherconfigures the processor to power up the second camera in response tomotion in a field of view of the first camera.
 7. The A/V recording andcommunication device of claim 1, wherein the camera application furtherconfigures the processor to power up the second camera in response tomotion detection in a motion zone.
 8. The A/V recording andcommunication device of claim 1, further comprising a passive infrared(PIR) sensor and wherein the camera application further configures theprocessor to detect motion using the PIR sensor.
 9. The A/V recordingand communication device of claim 1, wherein the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to detect motion using the first imagedata captured using the first camera.
 10. The A/V recording andcommunication device of claim 1, wherein the rolling buffer isconfigured to store 10-15 seconds of the first image data.
 11. The A/Vrecording and communication device of claim 1, wherein the cameraapplication further configures the processor to select a singlehigh-resolution frame from the second image data captured using thesecond camera.
 12. The A/V recording and communication device of claim11, wherein the camera application further configures the processor togenerate background video footage by repeating the singlehigh-resolution frame.
 13. The A/V recording and communication device ofclaim 12, wherein the first image data stored in the rolling buffercomprises a plurality of low-resolution frames.
 14. The A/V recordingand communication device of claim 13, wherein the camera applicationfurther configures the processor to determine at least one active motionblock within the plurality of low-resolution frames.
 15. The A/Vrecording and communication device of claim 14, wherein the cameraapplication further configures the processor to determine the at leastone active motion block by comparing pixel values of a first one of thelow-resolution frames with corresponding pixel values of a second one ofthe low-resolution frames.
 16. The A/V recording and communicationdevice of claim 15, wherein the camera application further configuresthe processor to superimpose the first image data captured using thefirst camera onto the second image data captured using the second cameraby superimposing the at least one action motion block onto at least oneof the single high-resolution frames of the background video footage.17. The A/V recording and communication device of claim 1, wherein thecamera application further configures the processor to stream the secondimage data captured using the second camera to a client device using thecommunication module.
 18. The A/V recording and communication device ofclaim 17, wherein the camera application further configures theprocessor to stream the first image data superimposed onto the secondimage data to the client device using the communication module.
 19. TheA/V recording and communication device of claim 18, wherein the cameraapplication further configures the processor to stream the first imagedata superimposed onto the second image data to the client device at afirst stream rate and stream the second image data captured using thesecond camera to the client device at a second stream rate, wherein thesecond stream rate is less than the first stream rate.
 20. The A/Vrecording and communication device of claim 1, wherein the cameraapplication further configures the processor to transmit the first imagedata stored in the rolling buffer and the second image data capturedusing the second camera to a server using the communication module.